Water gas producer



June 12, 1934. N E. RAMBUSH ET AL 1,962,616

WATER GAS PRODUCER Filed May 22, 1931 Patented June 12, 1934-A UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WATER GAS PRODUCER Application May 22, 1931, Serial No. 539,268

5 Claims.

The present invention relates to water gas producers.

Water gas plants are already known in which an air blower is driven by a steam turbine which in turn utilizes steam supplied from a waste heat boiler whose heating medium is the blow gas. Such turbine is operated during the blow period i. e., when no steam is required for gas making.

In such known plants the steam from the turbine is either condensed in a separate condenser or is exhausted to the atmosphere and as a result there is an unnecessary loss of heat units in the plant.

The object of the present invention is to make use of the exhaust steam from the turbine driving the air blower or any other steam available, and accordingly from one aspect of the present invention Steam is fed continuously into the jacket boiler surrounding the generating chamber of the plant to be stored therein for subsequent use together with the normal evaporation in the jacket boiler during the gas making periods of the water gas cycle.

As a result of this construction, besides the utilization o1 what previously has been waste steam an advantage also exists in that steam at a higher pressure than formerly is provided at the commencement of the gas making period, the pressure gradually falling off to some degree correspondingly with the loss of heat of the fuel bed of the generating chamber.

The invention is more particularly described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing illustrating as an elevation partly in section the relative position of the various units of a water gas generating plant, constructed according to the present invention.

In the drawing, the water gas generating chamber is illustrated at 1, the jacket boiler surrounding said chamber and having incorporated therewith the usual steam space is illustrated at 2. This jacket boiler is provided with a safety valve 27. 3 is the carburetting vessel provided with oil supply nozzle 28, 4 a super-heater provided with stack valve 29 and a gas outlet main 30, 5 a waste heat boiler with gas outlet 31 and 6 a steam drum for said boiler.

The carburetor 3 and superheater 4 are provided with safety dip pipes 32 and 33 and the shell of the waste heat boiler with an extension 34, all dipping into a water trough 35 and forming safety seals.

The air blower is diagrammatically illustrated at 8 and is driven by a turbine, also diagrammatically illustrated at '7. The turbine takes its supply of steam from the steam drum 6 through a pipe line 9 and exhausts into a pipe line 10 which is connected to a ring main 14 through a non-return valve 11. The ring main 14 has a series of branches formed therein to which nozzles 15 are connected, these nozzles being situated within the jacket boiler 2 and being equally spaced therein. The nozzles 15 are surrounded by tubes 16 which are adapted to promote circulation within the jacket and to ensure the absorption of the exhaust steam from the turbine '7.

The steam in the pipe line 9 is generally at a pressure of 100 to 300 lbs. per square inch, but should there be any steam in this pipe line which is surplus to the requirements of the turbine 7, such surplus steam is adapted to pass through a reducing valve 12a into a low pressure steam main 13 which generally works at a pressure of substantially 15 lbs. per square inch. TheV opposite end of this low pressure steam main 13 communicates with a steam ofi-take valve 17a for the jacket boiler 2 through a pipe line 17.

The steam main 13 near its communication with the pipe line 17 is iitted with a branch 18 having an isolating valve 19 formed therein together with a steam control valve 20 and a threeway steam valve 21, the latter having a steam pipe connection 22 to the top of the water gas generating chamber 1 and a steam pipe connection 23 to the bottom of the chamber 1, which latter is operated from a gas valve 24.

If desired, instead of providing a reducing valve 12a interconnecting the pipe line 9 with the steam main 13 a reducing valve 12b may be provided in a pipe line 25 which forms a by-pass enabling steam to pass directly from the pipe line 9 to the pipe line 10 without passing through the turbine 7. Such pipe line 25 is shown.

The operation of the plant is as follows:

The steam drum 6 ofA the'waste heat boiler 5 provides steam to the pipe line 9 to the steam turbine 7 of the air blower 8, the exhaust steam from the turbine 7 passes along the pipe line 10 through the non-return valve 11 and the nozzles 15 and is absorbed by the hot water in the jacket boiler 2. The steam turbine operates at its maximum during the so-called air blow period of the water gas cycle and in consequence the exhaust steam from the turbine 7 is stored in the jacket boiler 2 during this period. As a result of this storage a rise in pressure takes place within the jacket so that the amount of steam available for gas making during the water gas generating periods of the cycle is increased and automatically provides a graded steam admission to the generator 1 either through the pipe 23 during an up run or through the pipe 22 during a down run, whereby the steam pressure is greatest at the commencement of the gas making period and falls off as the cycle proceeds.

The arrangement according to the present invention provides ideal conditions of water gas production as the time contact of the .steam with the fuel bed is shortest at the commencement of the gas making periods when the fuel bed is hottest and is longest due to the fall in steam pressure towards the end of the gas making periods when the temperature of the fuel bed has fallen.

If desired, the high pressure steam main 9 is provided with a branch 26 to enable steam surplus to the water gas plant requirements being used for general works purposes. This is possible as the reducing valve 12a., or 12b, whichever is used, automatically maintains a pressure of approximately 15 to 20 lbs. per square inch on the low pressure side of the system.

It will be appreciated that where a plurality of generating chambers are provided in a multiunit plant in conjunction with one or more waste heat boilers, the low pressure steam from the power units may be distributed amongst the jackets surrounding said generators.

We declare that what we claim is:-

1. In a water gas producer plant the combination of a water gas generator, a waste heat boiler generating high pressure steam, an air blower, a steam unit such as a turbine driving said blower,

-a connection leading said high pressure steam from said waste heat boiler to said steam unit, a low pressure steam storing jacket surrounding said generator, a connection from the exhaust of said unit torsaid steam storing jacket, and a valved connection between said steam storing jacket and said generator.

2. In a water gas producer plant the combination of a water gas generator, a carburetor, a superheater, a waste heat boiler generating high v pressure steam, an air blower, a steam unit such as a turbine driving said blower, a connection leading said high pressure steam from said waste heat boiler to said steam unit, a low pressure steam storing jacket surrounding said generator, a connection from the exhaust of said unit to said steam storing jacket, and a valved connection between said steam storing jacket and said generator.

3. In a water gas producer plant the combination of a water gas generator, a waste heat boiler generating high pressure steam, an air blower, a steam unit such as a turbine driving said blower, a connection leading said high pressure steam from said waste heat boiler to said steam unit, a low pressure steam storing jacket surrounding said generator, a connection from the exhaust of said Lmit to said steam storing jacket, a valved connection between said steam storing jacket and said generator, a reducing valve, and a connection to said generator from said high pressure steam main.

4. In a water gas producer plant the combination of a water gas generator, a Waste heat boiler generating high pressure steam, an air blower, a steam unit such as a turbine driving said blower, a connection leading said high pressure steam froml said waste heat boiler to said steam unit, a 10G low pressure steam storing jacket surrounding said generator, a connection from the exhaust of said unit to said steam storing jacket, a reducing valve and by-pass past said steam unit, and a valved connection between. said steam storing 105 jacket and said generator.

5. In a water gas producer plant the combination of a water gas generator, a waste heat boiler generating high pressure steam, an air blower, a steam unit such as a turbine driving said 11) blower, a connection leading said high pressure steam from said waste heat boiler to said steam unit, a low pressure steam storing jacket surrounding said generator, a connection from the exhaust of said unit to said steam storing jacket, lg a non-return valve in said connection, and a valved connection between said steam storing jacket and said generator.

NIELS EDWARD RAMBUSH. JAMES OLIVER DEAN. 

